Super Slice - River Cottage

I've become a big fan of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his River Cottage Everyday program, which is being shown on the ABC here in Australia at the moment

This week he featured bread....but while looking at his site to check out some other recipes, I found this delicious slice, which he calls a booster bar that's great for an energy hit at breakfast.

I have to agree with him... it really is better than anything you'll find in the health food aisle at the supermarket

I usually make MONT a cake or something to take to Bonnie Doon so thought this would be nice as a bit of a change. It doesn't look particularly attractive while making it, but it's the end result that's important.

Grease and line a baking tin about 20cm square and preheat the oven to about 160c

In a pot on low heat, gently melt together: 125g unsalted butter, 150g soft brown sugar, 125g crunchy peanut butter (the one with no added sugar)  75g honey and the finely grated zest of a lemon and an orange. I also added the juice of the lemon, just to give it a bit of a zing

Stir in 200g porridge oats and 150g dried fruit. I used some currants, sultanas, a couple of chopped dried figs and a few dried cranberries that I had left over. I also added a handful of pistachio nuts and a few pecans

Hugh suggests adding seeds as well, like pumpkin, sunflower, poppy, linseed and sesame seeds

Spread the mixture out evenly into the baking tin and, if you like,  scatter a few seeds on the top. Then bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until it's started to brown at the edges and is golden in the centre

You have to let this cool completely in the tin before you take it out and cut it, otherwise it'll break apart.

Hugh has this as a breakfast energy bar...I also like it with a cuppa.

If you're not a fan of peanut butter you can replace it with a mashed up banana. Just stir it in after all the other ingredients have been mixed together.

As I mentioned, I added the juice of a lemon. Next time I'll also add the juice of the orange, just to help lighten it a bit. I'll also get some pumpkin and sunflower seeds to mix in.

Use your imagination. That's the best thing about cooking. There's always something you can substitute if you don't have the original ingredient

I'm a River Cottage convert.

Baking Panettone

This is very easy...a little time consuming but so worth the effort....

You'll need
_________

1 tablespoon dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
5 tablespoons caster sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup plain yoghurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
500 gr plain flour
1/3 cup currants
1/3 cup sultanas
1/4 cup candied orange peel
1 tablespoon icing sugar

Preheat oven to 170c

In a medium bowl, combine yeast, water and caster sugar, then stir and cover and let stand for 10 minutes until it starts to foam. In another bowl, combine yoghurt, eggs, vanilla, zest and salt and mix together, then add to the yeast mixture. Let it sit for about 10 minutes until it foams and bubbles

Stir in the flour, a little at a time until a dough starts to form into a manageable ball. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 to 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary, until dough is soft and pliable, but not sticky

Place the ball of dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover with a tea towel.

It'll take about an hour for the dough to double it's size

Lightly grease a round 20cm cake tin and place two layers of baking paper in the bottom, then in a small bowl, mix the dried fruit with the icing sugar. Punch down the dough, transfer to a floured surface again and knead in the fruit

Put the dough into the cake tin and let is rise again...for about half an hour

Then bake for about 35-40 minutes,

Delicious with a good coffee for breakfast or afternoon tea.

The original recipe had the oven at 180 deg and a baking time of 45 minutes. I tried it a little lower as my oven is fan forced. I also tested the Panettone after 35 minutes and it was fine, although some of the fruit on the top was a little crispy, as you can see.

Plum tray bake - Delicious!

Another fabulous recipe from Valli Little in Delicious Magazine

I made this at the weekend and I have to say it was well worth the effort. In fact it wasn't difficult or involved at all.

You need
250gr cream cheese at room temperature
1tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup (55gr) caster sugar
4 eggs
175gr softened unsalted butter
175gr brown sugar
200gr self-raising flour-sifted
400gr plums, sliced with stones removes
Icing sugar to dust

Preheat oven to 180 c and grease and line a 24x24 cake pan or 28x18 lamington tray.

In a mixing bowl add cream cheese, caster sugar, vanilla and 1 eggs and beat 2 to 3 minutes until smooth

Place butter, brown sugar, flour and the other 3 eggs in a clean bowl and beat until creamy.
Spread half the flour mixture in the bottom of the cake pan, then half the cream cheese mix and swirl it around a little so they meld together, then top with half the plums.

Repeat that process with the flour mix, cream cheese mix and plums and bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until golden and cooked in the middle. 

This is not only a great cake for afternoon tea but also a great dessert cake/slice. Valli included a white chocolate custard with this, but that doesn't do it for me to be honest, a little too sweet, so I went with cream and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

When baking this I put it in for 40 minutes then tested it with a skewer...it needed the 45 minutes.

Apricot Walnut Shortcake Slice

Time to bake again...This time a nice slice.

It's good as a dessert with some cream or ice-cream...or with an afternoon cuppa, or even for breakfast.

You'll need
------------
1 x 410gr can bakers apricot halves (no added sugar)
125gr softened butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
slurp of vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1 cup walnuts
extra 2 tablespoons sugar


Pre-heat your oven to 180 deg fan forced.
Grease and line a 20cm square cake pan

Cream the butter and sugar and vanilla till light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the flour, half a cup at a time. The mix will be quite dry. Spoon it into the cake tin and smooth the top. Spoon the apricots on top and then sprinkle with the extra sugar and the walnuts. Unfortunately, I didn't have a full cup of walnuts. Pity because they make it extra delicious....but if you don't like nuts you don't have to use them

Bake for 30 minutes, then cover with foil and bake for another 25 minutes.

Let it cool and eat....even for breakfast, which I did this morning with a cup of coffee.

I let mine sit in the tin for about 15 minutes before lifting it out

Told you it was easy...it's even printed on the back of the can

Enjoy

Chocolate Mousse cake

This is a cake recipe that, by the looks of it, shouldn't work. But it does.

It's my chocolate mouse cake and it is rich and luscious and totally addictive...and best of all, it can be prepared in advance and frozen!

It's simple. So simple that if you can turn on your oven, work the microwave and open the door to the freezer then you can make this rich dessert.

These are the things you need

20cm round cake tin
450 grams dark chocolate
4 eggs
145 grams unsalted butter 
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 tablespoon plain flour

First off, line the cake tin with baking paper or silver foil, (do not grease it) with enough hanging over so it can cover it later. Just note, this will not work out as well if you use a larger cake tin. A smaller one will be OK, but using a larger one means you'll end up with a rather flat and solid cake.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a bowl in the microwave then let cool to room temperature. 
Using an electric mixer, beat together the eggs and sugar until pale and creamy and fluffy
Fold in the sifted flour, then the room temperature chocolate mixture
Pour into the lined cake tin and put in a 180 degree oven for 20 minutes until the top cracks and it's still a bit wobbly. Do not leave this in the oven thinking it's undercooked because it's wobbly. It's not.

Let it cool in the tin then cover it with the foil and put it in the freezer overnight

To serve the next day, take it out of the freezer at least an hour before serving, then invert it onto a plate, cover the top with berries and serve with cream or ice-cream. Or both!

Told you this was easy!

Lemon Poppyseed Cake via Jamie

We have three lemon trees at Number 10 and two of them are going crazy with fruit...so it was time to use some up and make a lemon and poppy seed cake..

This is a recipe that I first saw on the Jamie Oliver site and have tried it out a few times now...it's terrific if you like a tangy cake....it's also pretty easy, which is always important. It's a cake that is very moist, a little tart and truly delicious

I tweaked Jamie's recipe a little to increase volume...

You will need

150g unsalted butter, softened
130g caster sugar
4 large eggs
180g ground almonds (almond meal)
30g poppy seeds
large dollop yogurt
zest and juice of 2 lemons
125g self-raising flour, sifted

Lemon syrup:

100g caster sugar
juice of 2 lemons

Lemon Icing:

250g icing sugar
zest and juice of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 180 Celsius

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy, then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one

Place the poppy seeds into the yogurt and let sit for a few minutes.

Fold in the almond meal, self raising flour, lemon zest, lemon juice and poppy seeds and yogurt

Line a cake tin with baking paper, spoon the mix in (it shouldn't be runny) and place in the oven for approx 35 minutes or until golden and the top springs back then lightly pressed.

When ready, remove it from the oven and let it cool in the tin for a few minutes before you turn it out onto a plate

For the lemon syrup, place the juice and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil until the sugar has dissolved, then pierce the top of the cake a few times with a skewer and spoon the syrup over the top

When the cake has completely cooled, make the icing, (which will be runny), and spoon it over the cake

So you get a hit of tangy lemon in the cake, from the syrup and finally from the icing.

YUMMO!

Truly delicious!

Thanks Jamie

No need to knead

I have to admit I was a bit sceptical when a friend told me about this bread, I mean all bread dough needs to be kneaded right?

Apparently not.

This is a really easy recipe and while it's not particularly pretty along the way, the end result is fabulous, not only to eat but to look at. It's a long process, but oh so worth it!

The first thing is to mix the ingredients together and there are just 4 of them

3 cups bread flour
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon fine table salt
1 1/2 cups of warm water

You'll also need a covered pot of some sort, like a large cast iron or Pyrex one that can go into a very hot oven

The night before, put all the ingredients in a large bowl and use a wooden spoon to bring them together. But don't over do it. It will look pretty rough but don't worry, this is just how it should look.
Now cover the bowl with glad wrap and let it sit on the bench for between 12 and 20 hours.

The next day the dough will have expanded and look wet and bubbly and sticky, so sprinkle some flour on the bench ...

This is where the yeast action is

....and with a wet spatula, put the dough on it and use the spatula to fold the ends over a few times to form a ball.  Generously dust a cotton tea towel with flour and put the ball of dough on it and place it in a bowl to let rest for a couple of hours until it doubles in size

Now, preheat the oven to about 200c and place your pot in there so it can heat up

When the dough's ready, place it in the pot, put the lid back on and bake for 30 minutes. It's sort of like baking in an oven within an oven.
Uncover and then bake for another 15 to 20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

When it's all ready, place your loaf on a wire rack to cool then eat.

This is what you end up with.

A delicious loaf that is crusty and moist and scrumptious

I think I prefer this to the sour dough loaf I made. This takes a little longer, but I like the end result a lot more

Thanks to Steamy Kitchen for this recipe...it's terrific!

Bread - Sourdough

We love a nice loaf of gutsy bread here at Number 10 so I thought I'd try my hand at making some sourdough.

I read, maybe 6 or 7 recipes for it and got a different version each time. Very confusing. I also bought a terrific book called "Bread" by Jeffrey Hamelman. A good read, if you're into bread that is.

The one bit of imformation that was constant though is how important the sourdough starter is, although there are a lot of versions of it as well...everyone seems to have different ideas of how often you should "feed" it, how long it takes to mature and what you should put in the water to help it along. Some say grapes, others say potato peel...

Anyway, it takes a bout a week to get it going, so if you want to make sourdough you have to plan ahead....well ahead

The recipe I used is copyright so I can't detail it here...all I'll say though if you go to the Everyday Gourmet
website and search for sourdough and sourdough leaven, you'll find it.

 I bought my flour from Marg and Marees Baking store in Heidelberg Heights.

It is The. Best. Shop for all things baking!

This is the finished product. It was quite nice. Not the typical sourdough we've been having from the local bakery, but nice nonetheless

About Marg and Marees...They also hold classes for just about every baked good on the planet...and then some....and they have a website so if you lodge your email address with them they'll let you know what classes are coming up when...get in early though, the classes fill fast!

For Melburnians they're at 54 Bell St Heidelberg Heights

Happy baking